Climate deaths more than double in 2010 - Oxfam

WASHINGTON Nov 29 (Reuters) - Climate-related disasters
killed 21,000 people in the first nine months of this year, more than
double the number in 2009, the humanitarian organization Oxfam
reported on Monday.

Timed to coincide with the start of international talks
tackling climate change in Cancun, Mexico, the report cited
floods in Pakistan, fires and heat waves in Russia and sea
level rise in the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu as examples
of the deadly consequences of climate change.

The new round of U.N. climate negotiations aims to agree on
a narrow range of issues dividing rich and poor economies,
specifically on funding, preservation of rainforests and
preparations for a warmer world. The talks also will seek to
formalize existing targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Last year's climate negotiations in Copenhagen ended with
no binding global agreement, and expectations for this year's talks
are low. U.S. lawmakers are unlikely to consider legislation creating
a cap-and-trade system to curb climate-warming emissions.

Still, Oxfam put its report forward as evidence that quick action
is needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

"Countries should identify new ways to raise the billions
of dollars needed, such as putting levies on unregulated
international aviation and shipping emissions and agreeing on a
Financial Transaction Tax on banks. The sooner the money is
delivered, the cheaper it will be to tackle climate change,"
Tim Gore, author of the report, said in a statement.

The events of 2010 are in line with expectations detailed in a
2007 report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
which noted that more severe heat waves, wildfires, floods and rising
sea levels were likely.

Oxfam said floods in Pakistan inundated about one-fifth of the
country, killed 2,000 people and affected 20 million, spreading
disease and destroying homes, crops, roads and schools, with
estimated damages of $9.7 billion.

In Russia, Oxfam said, temperatures exceeded the long-term
average by 14 degrees F (7.8 degrees C) in July and August, and
the daily death rate in Moscow doubled to 700. Some 26,000
wildfires destroyed 26 percent of wheat crops, prompting a ban
on exports.
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